A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 275 Money grabbing
Riding back to Beijing,

They went straight to the Ministry of Works in the Imperial City. When they saw Li Yi coming in with a purple robe and jade belt, the officials of the Ministry of Works all showed complicated expressions on their faces.

Last month, the case of Wang Ren, the clerk, ended up implicating dozens of officials from the Ministry of Works, whose properties were confiscated and exiled. Among them was a sixth-rank deputy minister. In addition, two doctors and one assistant minister were also implicated and punished.

"Lord Qianshui, Minister Dugu is out with his troops, and the two assistant ministers are also out."

"What about Doctor He?"

"Not in the government office either."

"Mr. Zhang?"

"Mr. Zhang has been exiled to Shizhou."

The person in charge, dressed in a light green robe, entertained Li Yi very carefully.

"Since you're all gone, I'll tell you straight away. The Ministry of Works hasn't sent copper materials to the Yishou Qianjian for a while. The copper materials are all gone, and the Qianjian has stopped working.

I sent several people back to Beijing to urge for materials, but why did the Ministry of Industry ignore them?

The green-robed official bowed and said, "Sir Qianshui, our Ministry of Works has already sent several batches of copper materials to Yishou this month. I remember a total of 200,000 kilograms of copper."

"Two hundred thousand pounds is right. They have all been used up."

"How is it possible that they have been used up? In the previous dynasty, when minting five-zhu coins, a single coin supervisor only minted 3,300 strings of coins a year, using only over 10,000 kilograms of copper.

You used 200,000 catties of copper in just one month?" The green-robed official's voice suddenly rose an octave, drawing the attention of the officials nearby.

Li Yi sneered twice: "Do you suspect that we have embezzled copper materials from the Ministry of Industry?"

"Sir, I have absolutely no such intention. It's just 200,000 kilograms of copper. How can we use it up in just one month? How much money would it cost to cast it?"

"Let me tell you, we used these 200,000 catties of copper to cast 36,000 strings of coins. Each string of coins contains 83% copper, plus another 11% of the fire consumed during smelting. So, to cast one string of coins, we used 92.13 taels of copper.
After the 200,000 kilograms of copper you sent us were used up, we also spent over 7,000 kilograms of copper from our inventory."

The green-robed official smiled apologetically, "Sir, you said you minted 36,000 coins in a month? Aren't the new Kaiyuan Tongbao coins worth ten coins or something? How is that possible? 36,000 coins in a month? I've been in the Ministry of Works for 30 years. The most minted year in the previous dynasty was only over 300,000 coins. And a single coin supervisor minted 3,300 coins in a year..."

Li Yi had no interest in arguing with this guy: "That was in the past. Now the Yishou Observatory is minting 36,000 coins a month. Hurry up and make up the copper materials, otherwise the responsibility for the suspension of work will be on you."

After leaving the Ministry of Works, Li Yi went to the Ministry of Civil Affairs next door.

This time, it was a Yuanwailang who received us.

"I've sent people to notify the Ministry of Civil Affairs several times to transport the newly minted coins. Why didn't you respond?"

"Mr. Li, please sit down and have some tea. We were thinking of waiting until more new coins were minted before transporting them to save us the trouble of running back and forth. It's only been a month, so we should have only minted a few thousand coins. We can save more for transportation."

"I remember telling you in my letter that they mint a thousand strings of new coins every day. It's been over a month now, and the warehouse has already piled up thirty-six thousand strings. If you don't transport them, they'll be full."

"How many?"

The official almost spit out the tea in his mouth.

"Thirty-six thousand strings of cash."

This official had indeed received a letter from Li Yi asking them to receive the copper coins, but he didn't take it seriously. Who was he trying to fool by minting thousands of new coins a day?

But now that Li Yi said it in front of him, he became a little skeptical. It was impossible for Li Yi to lie to him in front of him.

After visiting two government offices in the imperial city, Li Yi returned home.

Shengyefang, Qianshui County Government Office,

In the inner courtyard,
One of the two Hu girls was playing the pipa and the other was dancing the Huxuan dance, while the girl Hongxiao was singing beside them.

Ji Lingyi was walking in the yard in the sunshine, while Luo Sanniang was checking accounts with an abacus.

As soon as Li Yi came in,

Everyone stopped and gathered around to greet him.

"Where's Shi Niang?"

"Reading in the house."

"You guys continue," Li Yi smiled and waved his hand, then went to look for his wife.

In the afternoon,

He had just had lunch at home when the emperor came to summon him to the palace.

In front of Taiji Palace,
Qian Jiulong was waiting for him.

"Congratulations to Mr. Qian on his promotion,"

Qian Jiulong chuckled, "The Saint is waiting in the hall, and several gentlemen have also arrived. The Saint is in a good mood."

Li Yi did not dare to be careless with this guy. He had already seen that this guy, who was born as a slave of Li Yuan, secretly held the power of supervision.

The emperor's servants and confidants are people who should not be approached too lightly, nor should they be offended.

Li Yi entered the palace,
Take off your boots outside the hall and sign in to enter.

Incense was burning in the hall.
Several ministers in purple robes were sitting in the hall, and the emperor was leaning on a stool, chatting and laughing with them.

"Wu Yi is here, let him talk to everyone in person." The emperor was indeed in a good mood and waved to Li Yi with a smile on his face.

"Tell Pei Jian and the others about the minting of the new coins. The Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Civil Affairs reported that you minted 36,000 coins in one month, which shocked the prime ministers and they refused to believe it."

Pei Ji looked at Li Yi,
"Mr. Qianshui, have you really minted 36,000 strings of new coins?"

"Yes, 36,000 strings of new money have been deposited into the treasury."

Several prime ministers were very surprised that a thousand strings of coins could be minted in one day.

"Your Majesty, the Yishou Mint Office's thirty-six furnaces are operating, with over a thousand craftsmen casting coins. There are also two thousand charcoal workers and several hundred miscellaneous laborers. They use the sand casting method, which is much faster than the previous dynasty's mold casting method. However, we are currently running out of copper materials. I have urged the Ministry of Works several times for materials, but they have not been delivered. Therefore, the Mint Office has been forced to declare a three-day holiday today."

Li Yi came back this time with good preparation.

I even brought back a box of money.

When the emperor sent people to carry the box of money to the Golden Palace,
When the box was opened, it was glittering with gold. The emperor and the chancellors each held a string of coins.

Heavy and very substantial.

Bring it to the scale and weigh it in public.

"Six pounds and four ounces,"

I weighed another string of coins, and it was still six pounds and four ounces. I weighed more than ten strings of coins in a row, and the weight was basically the same.

Pei Ji was very surprised, which meant that the new coins were minted in a very standard manner.

Untie the rope,

Ten coins per scale weigh one tael.

Li Yuan played with the money in his hand. "The text on the coin is clear, the outline is regular, and the casting is fine. It's a good coin."

"How much material does this money use and how much does it cost?"

"Your Majesty, these new Kaiyuan Tongbao coins are made of copper in a ratio of 8:3, lead 12:5, and tin, with a smelting cost of 11. Taking into account the costs of copper, lead, tin, charcoal, smelting cost, craftsmen, sand molds, transportation, and management, each coin costs 750 yuan."

"The copper content has increased? Remember you said last time that the copper content was 68?"

"Your Excellency, the sand casting method greatly increases efficiency and reduces costs. Furthermore, with the labor-for-relief program, labor is cheaper. Therefore, using 68% copper would result in excessive profit. I believe that profit from coin casting should not be too high, otherwise it will easily lead to illegal coinage, which would be no different from minting ten-cent coins."

After some explanation, Li Yuan agreed.

"The biggest problem facing the Yishou Mint House right now is the lack of copper supply. The mints can't operate at full capacity, and some can even be shut down."

·······
Li Yuan and his ministers had no good solution to the copper supply problem. The world was not yet settled and the Tang Dynasty had not yet unified the country. They were busy fighting wars, resuming farming, and developing minerals, so they had no time to take care of them for the time being. The copper could only be recycled as old coins.

"What good suggestions do you gentlemen have?"

Li Yuan asked, holding a new coin.

Minister of Civil Affairs Liu Wenjing said frankly, "I think the best way to solve the copper problem is to recycle bad coins.
The new coins were used to exchange for the bad coins in the hands of the people, and the bad coins were melted down to extract copper and used to mint new coins.

Pei Ji smiled and asked, "How do you change it? What's the ratio?"

The new Kaiyuan Tongbao coin weighed six pounds and four ounces per string, and although it cost only seven hundred and fifty coins, it was much stronger than the Sui Kaihuang Wuzhu and Daye Wuzhu coins.

The Kaihuang five-zhu official coin weighed only four pounds and two taels per string, and the Daye five-zhu coin even weighed only three pounds and two pounds per string.

Not to mention those bad coins, such as goose-line coins and wire-line coins, which have low copper content and are light. There are even lead-tin coins that do not contain any copper at all.

Liu Wenjing proposed his own exchange method.

For different currencies, there are different exchange rates.

For example, the Kaihuang Wuzhu coin weighs four pounds and two ounces, and its copper content accounts for about 85%, which makes it a good coin. However, it is always more than two pounds lighter than the Kaiyuan Tongbao coin.

"Sui Kaihuang Wuzhu, a good-quality coin minted during the Kaihuang era, three coins can be exchanged for two Kaiyuan Tongbao coins."

The Wuzhu coins minted during the Daye Dynasty weighed two catties at the beginning of the Daye Dynasty, but only one catty at the later period. They also contained a lot of lead and tin. Therefore, at the beginning of the Daye Dynasty, five coins could be exchanged for one Kaiyuan Tongbao, but at the later period, ten coins could be exchanged for one Kaiyuan Tongbao.

"As for bad coins like goose-eye coins and ring-shaped coins, they are all weighed by weight, with ten catties being exchanged for one catty of new coins."

Pei Ji objected: "Your Majesty, this is too complicated. I believe that in the past dynasties, when officials minted coins, they could exchange five coins for a new coin, but when private mints like Goose Eye and others minted coins, they could exchange one new coin for ten taels of privately minted bad coins."

One Kaiyuan Tongbao can be exchanged for five Kaihuang Wuzhu coins, or ten Daye Wuzhu coins.
Exchange it for ten taels of other privately minted bad coins.

Li Yi sat there, feeling somewhat frightened when listening to it.

The Sui Kaihuang Wuzhu, commonly known as Rouhao, has a better copper content than the Kaiyuan Tongbao minted by Li Yi now, but it is lighter, weighing sixty-six taels for one thousand coins, while one thousand coins for Kaiyuan Tongbao weighs one hundred taels.

The meat of three strings of five zhu is good, and its actual value should be equivalent to that of two strings of Tongbao.

Liu Wenjing's exchange rate was more reasonable, but Pei Ji directly said that five pieces of meat could be exchanged for one Tongbao, which was robbing money.

The price of Tongbao coins is more than three times that of Wuzhu.

As for the Daye money, exchanging ten for one is still robbery.

No matter how bad the white money is, it is still worth 1,000 coins and 2 jin, and the copper content is about 50 to 60. Ten strings of coins are 20 jin of coins, which is more than 10 jin of copper. One string of Tongbao is only 6 jin and 4 liang in total, which is just over 5 jin of copper.

"Your Majesty, if we exchange it this way, I'm afraid the people won't be willing to take out their old coins!" Li Yi reminded.

"Then what suggestions do you have?" Li Yuan asked.

"I think three Sui Wu Zhu coins are worth the same as two Kai Yuan Tong Bao coins."

Pei Ji said: "The imperial court also needs capital to mint coins. How can new coins be compared with old ones?"

After some thought, Li Yuan adopted a compromise.

"In the Kaihuang era, exchange five baht and two coins for one new coin. In the Daye era, exchange five baht and five coins for one new coin. As for the bad coins like goose-eye coins, exchange ten for one new coin."

Goose-eye coins are also called chicken-eye coins. The small five-zhu coins weigh no more than two kilograms, and the copper content of privately cast coins is less than 50%.

But even if ten goose eyes are exchanged for one Kaiyuan Tongbao, the government is still taking advantage.

Normally, if the exchange rate is five to one, the officials will make money.

"Your Majesty, I request that Kaiyuan Tongbao be traded for silk, with each piece of silk exchanged for 180 new coins!" Pei Ji proposed.

"Your Majesty, each piece of silk should be exchanged for 240 coins in new currency." Liu Wenjing objected.

The current price of silk is 360 coins per piece, which can buy one dou of rice. The coins here refer specifically to the Sui Kaihuang Wuzhu coins, and other coins must be exchanged accordingly.

If two cents of good meat money can be exchanged for one cent of new money, the price of silk and rice will be adjusted accordingly. This sounds fine.

But the value of this new money is still rising too fast, and money is expensive but things are cheap.

Li Yuan stroked his beard and tried to compromise again.

"The price of silk per piece is 200 new coins, and the price of rice in the Changping warehouse is also changed to 200 new coins per dou."

(End of this chapter)